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The rooftop garden at Scuffletown Garden
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(From left), Sous Chef and sommelier Hosea Roberts, co-owner Derek Salerno and Executive Chef Adam Campbell pose jokingly outside of the restaurant.
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The plant wall inside Scuffletown provides guests with a peek into the kitchen.
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The interior of Scuffletown Garden features natural wood and live greenery.
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A roulette wheel where guests can spin for a variety of classic cocktails
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The floor inside Scuffletown Garden
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Another view of the rooftop garden
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Tomatoes growing at Scuffletown Garden
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A member of the Scuffletown Garden team waters plants.
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This plant box was made with wood from old banquette seating in Strawberry Street Cafe and was painted by staffers.
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The rooftop garden is home to herbs and vegetables including squash, eggplant and tomatoes.
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The Scuffletown Garden rooftop space also features cucumber plants.
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Campbell checks on plants in the rooftop garden.
How does a first-time restaurateur preserve a 40-year old Richmond institution while moving forward in fresh and innovative ways?
For Scuffletown Garden co-owners Derek Salerno and Octavio Camacho and Executive Chef Adam Campbell, the answer was to opt for a clean slate instead of struggling with an identity crisis. When the doors of the former Strawberry Street Cafe open next week under a new name, it will represent a farewell to the past and a salute to the present.
“We knew from the beginning the restaurant we wanted was drastically different [from Strawberry Street Cafe]. We thought we could reconcile the two philosophies, but it became a liability,” explains Salerno, the former beverage director of Shagbark and a veteran of the local dining scene.
The partners purchased the space at 421 Strawberry St., opposite the buildings that conceal tucked-away Scuffletown Park, in November 2018 and continued to operate under the same name and menu, but they soon realized drastic changes were in order.
The cafe was deeply rooted in nostalgia. Initial tweaks to the menu were met with resistance and backlash from diners, some of whom told Salerno they hoped he would fail or even "burn in hell" for straying from the original concept. For many native Richmonders it was where they had celebrated special birthdays, held their first job or experienced the famed bathtub salad bar.
But those memories can still live on, as will the bathtub, which sits filled with soil in front of the restaurant and is currently sprouting lettuce and carrot seedlings.
“Ultimately I feel like we’re not trying to change the idea of what Strawberry Street was as much as we are changing the techniques and processes of how we conduct business,” explains Campbell, who most recently served a five-year stint at Rapphannock and assisted with the opening of Alewife.
Campbell’s parents actually went to Strawberry Street Cafe for their wedding dinner after eloping at City Hall, he says. Although he understands diners' attachment to the place, he adds, the business model that worked through the '80s, '90s and early 2000s had become antiquated.
“It was an institution, and the nostalgia everybody had in town for that place is special, but everything good comes to an end and has to change and evolve,” he says.
The last meal served at Strawberry Street Cafe was on Sunday, March 31. The microwaves, frozen foods, scattered and lengthy menu, and single-use items from creamer to butter to six types of Styrofoam to-go containers went with it.
The experience of working in a wasteful environment ignited the idea for a brand-new concept and turned the Scuffletown Garden owners and chef into self-proclaimed “radicals.”
“I remember looking at all of it and feeling like I was suffocating,” says Salerno. “We’re trying to take a lot of the lessons we learned over the years and do things in a responsible and sustainable way."
They moved forward with the intention of creating a restaurant that combines the welcoming vibe of a neighborhood bar with modern, sustainable practices.
Their green efforts began with design: Tables were refurbished, the decor refreshed, and servers painted a massive planting box — constructed for the flourishing rooftop garden using wood from old banquettes — that now houses squash, eggplant, tomatoes, herbs and more.
“It's special for employees to feel that connection with the whole entire process,” says Campbell, who spent a season farming with Manakintowne Specialty Growers, of the garden. Employees will have designated gardening shifts, and restaurant staffers recently took a trip to Black Creek Farm, one of the restaurant's primary purveyors.
Salerno and Campbell first met 15 years ago while working for Richmond Restaurant Group and both are experienced working in casual and fine-dining venues. Now the duo is on the brink of reintroducing the community to a space that has transformed into a bright, seasonally driven restaurant adorned with clean, contemporary touches designed by Amrit Singh of Fultz & Singh Architects. The restaurant's forest-green walls, complemented with an abundance of plants and natural light, create an airy escape in tune with the namesake garden above it.
Salerno and Sous Chef and sommelier Hosea Roberts, also previously of Rappahannock, are delivering a wine, beer and cocktail menu that focuses on classics over trendy libations. There will be six draft beers along with an assortment of domestic and imported cans and bottles. Guests will be able to spin a roulette wheel at the bar, with each space representing a different classic cocktail.
“We really want to do something different, and it will be hard, … but we're gonna go for it,” says Salerno. “I’ve always treated every project I took on as if it was live-or-die, and this won’t be any different.”
The menu, which will change frequently, features a protein section dedicated to varying selections of grass-fed beef, pork, chicken from Harmony Hill, a fish of the day and a burger.
Diners will have the freedom to mix and match veggies — such as a tomato salad with basil and burrata or braised kale with a mushroom dashi — and starches that include a curry calasparra rice and black-garlic potato salad. Pasta dishes including beet bucatini will be made in house, along with desserts such as a sweet potato-miso pie and herbaceous ice creams such as pineapple-sage.
“I’ve been cooking for a long time, and I feel like I’ve been preparing myself for this for a long time," says Campbell. "I’m ready to cook my own food and dive into that role.”
Scuffletown Garden will open the week of June 17, with dinner service starting daily at 5 p.m. and lunch and brunch service to come.
